Morocco underscores progress towards FTA accord with US
Morocco-USA, Economics, 6/12/2003

Considerable progress has been achieved in negotiations for the conclusion of a free trade accord (FTA) between Morocco and the USA, Moroccan Delegate Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Taieb Fassi Fihri, said.

Fihri, who leads the Moroccan negotiators to the FTA talks, told the Chamber of Advisors (upper house of parliament), the third round of these talks, held last week in Rabat, helped adopt the broad-lines of the legal frame and the general structure of the accord.

Morocco will be the seventh country in the World and the second Arab nation to have such an accord with the US. Canada, Mexico, Israel, Jordan, Singapore and Chile are bound to Washington by similar covenants.

Fihri conceded that no agreement has yet been reached regarding preferential conditions or the gradual dismantling of tariffs. This, however, does not mean that there exist divergences between the two parties, he said, underlining keenness by both Morocco and the USA to deepen discussions on ways and means to establish balanced relationships, heeding Morocco's realities, particularly in the sectors of agriculture, industry and sea fisheries.

The official said the Moroccan negotiators insisted during the talks on the need to take into account the constraints of the agricultural sector, whether regarding production and marketing or living conditions of rural populations.

The structure and environment of the sector of services in Morocco as well as employment and intellectual property also appeared as fields that need special care in the projected Morocco-US FTA, he said.

The fourth round of negotiations will be held in the last week of next July in Washington.

Previous Stories:
  US start third FTA round   (6/5/2003)
  Morocco's premier holds talks with US assistant secretary of commerce   (5/29/2003)
  US trade delegation to visit Morocco   (5/21/2003)

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